A Beautiful Day?

Day 4

11th February

Distance – 40km

Total distance – 147km

Finally a beautiful day – sunny, clear and cold. It was still -17C when I set off and no doubt with the wind chill, it would have been much lower. The first 20km was the roughest part of the journey as the route traversed a sastrugi field, crossing perpendicular to the line of the ice carvings. I have cycled along some heavily corrugated roads in my time, which is no fun, and I could usually find some kind of rhythm. But here I hit the obstacles at a totally irregular rate and the amplitudes of the furrows and bumps were random. Over the first section of the day, the vehicle covered 10km while I had done 10.8km. The extra distance is because I had to constantly avoid the roughest patches of the ice sculptures. 

Sastrugi is formed here by the katabatic winds that constantly blow from the same direction, in this case, the South Pole. These winds essentially “fall” off the continent, from high to low altitudes. From Day 4, this wind was generally blowing across my right shoulder – good to finally have some assistance!

I filmed Stage 1 of the day on the sastrugi for the cycling app FulGaz, though I’m not sure, with such great image stabilisation on GoPros these days, whether FulGaz members will get the full feel of the rugged terrain I was traversing.

As the sastrugi diminished, the flatter plain became softer and I constantly found myself pushing through deep, soft snow. I aimed here to keep my gear lower than I normally would so that when I hit a soft patch, I could keep momentum to more easily power out of it. Again, it was energy sapping and my legs were pretty heavy by the end of the day.

As with each day, I seemed to finish cycling at around 7pm, and this time, I also had reached my minimum distance of 40km. This gave me a good chance of reaching Whichaway Camp by the end of the next day. Novo Runway was just 46km away.

I am using a lot of specialist clothing and equipment. This is not a complete list, rather some of the most effective pieces of kit for an Antarctic cycle journey.

Revelate Designs (Alaskan) handlebar mitts (pogies) are very important to protect my hands, otherwise exposed all day. They were so effective, that in -20C (and lower when considering the wind chill), my hands were generally warm wearing just a pair of Outdoor Research Flurry wool liner mitts.

Mont’s Hydronaute outer shell suit; the jacket is custom made to fit the cycling position. Together with the salopettes, the design enables free movement and the strategically placed zips enable ventilation. Mont’s Icicle down jacket keeps the cold out

Julbo Airwave goggles – the lens can click out, off the frame to enable airflow and keep the goggles from fogging up.

45NRTH Wolfgar cycling boots – the heaviest duty cycling boots, rated for -30C

Intuition Liners replaced the wool boot liners (that quickly become damp and caused my feet to quickly become cold). These moulded foam liners keep the cold out, and for the first time, I did not suffer from cold feet.

Wilderness Wear’s Merino Fusion base layers are 50% merino wool and 50% polypropylene. The base layer garments serve to wick away moisture thanks to the polypropylene and conserve warmth due to the wool. The wool socks are good for warmth though the socks become damp inside the foam liner.

Suunto 9 Peak Pro – did not miss a beat and I have all of the vital performance information saved on the app from each day’s work.

Garmin inReach (mini) – the device I used for the interactive map (by Zero Six Zero). Connected to the Iridium satellite network, I could easily send small updates on my location and progress.